My husband passed away in May. He would’ve been 65 last November I applied for Social Security widows benefits , are children are grown. I still work, but don’t make as much money as he did. I plan to work another couple of years as I am 65 as well. My question is after I applied, I was denied because of the amount of money that I make. It’s not a lot of money it’s under 75,000 just doesn’t seem fair since he worked all his life and now I’m left with out half of. Does this sound right?
Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. More than likely your claim for widow's benefits wasn't denied, but instead your benefits were withheld because of your earnings. Until you reach your full retirement age (FRA), the Social Security earnings test can cause some or all of your benefits to be withheld. Since you were under FRA throughout 2022, Social Security would have needed to withhold $1 of your widow's benefits for each $2 that you earned in excess of $19,560.
Therefore, if you earned roughly $75,000 last year it wouldn't be surprising if all of the widow's benefits that you otherwise would have qualified for last year would need to have been withheld due to the earnings test (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html). Whether or not at least some benefits may have been payable, though, depends on your benefit rate and the exact amount of your earnings.
The earnings test exempt amount for people under FRA throughout 2023 is $21,240, so if you'll still be earning around $75,000 this year then roughly $26,880 (i.e. ($75,000 - $21,240) divided by 2) of your 2023 benefits would need to be withheld before you could be paid benefits for this year. However, starting with the month you reach your FRA you can be paid all of the benefits for which you're eligible regardless of how much you earn.
Your best filing strategy depends on how much you'll be earning prior to FRA as well as your own benefit rate and your widow's rate. You may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of your options so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.
Best, Jerry
